Children are being deprived of playgrounds as the Tory-led coalition’s spending cuts hit parks and open spaces.

Today campaigners are launching a Save Our Parks petition calling on the next government to launch a national inquiry into the problem.

They also want a clean beaches-style Green Flag award to uphold standards in parks and warn there is “growing public alarm” about the serious long-term damage caused by the cuts.

A spokesman for the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces said: “If the trend is not reversed parks will go into decline and become problem spaces, abandoned by those who used them and plagued by vandalism.”

Almost £60million has been axed from park budgets since the Coalition came to power in 2010 – forcing cuts in staff, early closures and equipment to fall into disrepair.

Figures obtained under freedom of information laws by public sector union Unison show the North and the Midlands have been hardest hit.

Keep them open: Public spaces could be closed down if the cuts continue (Image: Getty)

A recent report for the Commissiom for Architecture and the Built Environment found 85% of people felt the quality of public space “has a direct impact on their lives and on the way they feel.”

Heather Wakefield, Unison’s head of local government, said: “Local parks provide fantastic value for money. The Government must wake up to the fact local councils need adequate funding to maintain equipment and employ staff to keep park activities running.”

Mum Tamara Lightfoot, 38, said she and son Ewan, five, were ushered out of Alexandra Park in Hoole, Cheshire, after a park keeper said the gates were being locked at 4pm because her had three parks to shut. She said: “Children will have nowhere to go. Many will end up in the streets, just hanging around.”